Tags for this video have been changed from 'enemy, at the, gate, jude, law, joseph, finnes, germans, russians, ww2, wwii, sniper, guns' to 'enemy, at the, gate, jude, law, joseph, fiennes, germans, russians, ww2, wwii, sniper, guns' - edited by alien_concept

>> ^dystopianfuturetoday:
No one wants to defend the Oscar noms?

Hmmm, well since no one else will do it, I guess I'll have to.

-Babel

While this was almost certainly Alejandro González Iñárritu's weakest film, considering the fact that I find Amores Perros and 21 Grams to be near-masterpieces (Amores Perros in particular), that was pretty much a forgone conclusion. The stories don't tie together quite as nicely as you'd hope, and it felt a tad long long, but it was really well made and superbly acted.

-Crash

Yes, it's heavy-handed; there's no denying that subtlety isn't a word in this film's vocabulary. But there were some surprisingly powerful moments, and it featured (mostly) very good performances.

-The Aviator

This was definitely one of Scorsese's weaker films, but there were a lot of things I liked about it. I liked the visual style, and how it tried to mimic the look of movies of the various eras. Cate Blanchett was really good. Ummm... well look, it wasn't a great film, but it certainly wasn't so bad as to be a waste of celluloid.

-A Beautiful Mind

Again, not great, but not awful, either. It was a competently made, entertaining Hollywood film. No more, no less.

-Titanic

I'm going to admit that I really liked this one. Though this isn't exactly the kind of thing James Cameron became famous for, I still think he's at his best here. This film manages to be a very good romance, and a good disaster movie, without one element ever eclipsing the other. Yes, it is schmaltzy, but I think an unabashed romance like this is allowed to have a bit of schmaltz. I still remember seeing this opening weekend, when the only buzz around it was "how hard is this film going to FLOP??" and walking out completely stunned. I know it isn't "cool" to like this film because of the way it was embraced by teenage girls, but you know what? I don't care. I think it's great, old-fashioned movie-making. Also: if you can remain dry-eyed during the sequence in which the string quartet plays while various passengers make their final preparations, then you sir are made of stone.

-The English Patient

I can't defend this one too vigourously, as I thought it was horribly overrated, but I will admit that it wasn't terrible. I honestly don't remember much about it... Ralph Fiennes was very good, though, as he always is (and go see In Bruges if you want to see a very different, and very hilarious, performance from him).

There's another video I posted some time ago but it died in the queue. It's from Sophie Fiennes' documentary Perverts Guide to Cinema.

>> ^ant:
What's "James Joyce Award"?


From the college website:

"Previous recipients of the James Joyce Award include: former UN weapons inspector, Hans Blix; author, Bill Bryson; philosopher, Professor Richard Swinburne and actor, Ralph Fiennes. Over the years, every Taoiseach and President has addressed the society.

“Mr Ferrell receives the James Joyce Award for his tremendous contribution to the field of comedy entertainment, as a comedian, writer and actor,” said Michael McGrath, Auditor, 153rd Session, Literary and Historical Society, UCD.

Hollywood actor Will Ferrell recieving the James Joyce Award from Michael McGrath, Auditor, 153rd Session, Literary and Historical Society."


Which doesn't clear up what the award is for exactly, but possibly they just give it to someone they like.

This is the intro to Strange Days, underrated cyberpunk film. More info from Wikipedia:

"Strange Days is the title of a 1995 science fiction film directed by Kathryn Bigelow and produced and co-written by her ex-husband James Cameron with the assistance of Jay Cocks. It stars Ralph Fiennes, Angela Bassett, Juliette Lewis, Tom Sizemore, Michael Wincott, Vincent D'Onofrio and Louise LeCavalier. The film is notable for its dystopian view of the future, and the moral ambivalence of many of its characters; which added to the technological and social issues raised make it an example of the cyberpunk genre in film."

- Strange Days on Wikipedia